Abstract
Two of the three chosen texts deal with different aspects of the US-Mexico border and illegal immigration, while the third focuses on global drug trafficking and the role of the United States government in fighting against it, both on American soil and on foreign ground. The disciplinary perspectives and methodologies of the authors vary. They do, however, share a common characteristic in that they all expose a gap between the official discourse of the government and the media and the reality. In this paper, using the mentioned texts and other resources, I will try to deconstruct this gap and explain how it actually serves as a cover for the truth driving forces behind the processes at play: business and economic profit.
Extract
[...] All this goes to show that things are usually way more complex than what they seem and then what political discourse makes them to be. The gap exists and will probably grow bigger in the years and decades to come. Sources: Reece Jones 2012 Border Walls Michael Dear 2013 Fortress USA P Smith 2012 Drug Trafficking, Drug Wars J. Nevins 2001 Operation Gatekeeper G.H. Mead 1934 Mind, Self, and Society P.J. Shoemaker 2008 Gatekeeping Theory A. Rabin-Havt & Media Matters 2016 Lies Incorporated: the World of Post-Truth Politics K. Gotsch & V. [...]
[...] Border Walls: Security and the War on Terror in the United States, India, and Israel - Reece Jones (2012); Why Walls Won't Work: Repairing the US-Mexico Divide - Michael Dear (2013); Talons of the Eagle: Latin America, the United States, and the World, 4th edition, Part III: Globalization and War, Drug Trafficking and Drug Wars - Peter H. Smith (2013) - The US in the Americas Reece Jones 2012 Border Walls Michael Dear 2013 Fortress USA P Smith 2013 Drug Trafficking, Drug Wars During the fiscal year of deceased bodies were found along the border between Mexico and the United States of America. [...]
[...] This resulted in largely increasing the incarcerated population, which meant more profit for the private prisons. Illegal immigration and drug trafficking, which at first seemed to be two distinct phenomena, continue to show striking similarities. Private prisons are not the only ones benefiting from the rising tensions in the border zones. The defense industry also profits from the situation. In 2018, the USA spent approximatively 649 billion dollars for military expenses, which is almost half of the worldwide defense budget. [...]
[...] It is a very complex concept that can have different philosophical and sociological meanings. The one that is relevant to this analysis is the generalized other (Mead 1934). The generalized other represents a social interaction in which the individual has no prior knowledge about the other person's life. The way the individual will behave with this other will therefore only be based on abstract information and preconceived notions that can be fueled by his education, the media and political discourse. [...]
[...] Before he was elected POTUS, he was a very successful businessman, and it should come as no surprise that most of his policies benefit other businessmen. This situation evokes the totalitarian world of 1984, written by Orwell. In it, dictatorial states wage endless wars against each other, not necessarily because they hate each other, but because war itself is considered beneficial. War can unite people against a common enemy, real or not, fantasized or not. Social cohesion is guaranteed, and, through war, peace is paradoxically maintained. This is explicitly shown in one of the government's propaganda catchphrases in the book: War is peace. [...]
